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COLLEGE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL: FRIENDS SINCE CHILDHOOD ARE NOW TEAMMATES FOR EC HOOPS (13 PHOTOS) (2022-11-01)

By Brian Fees
Southern Tier Sports Report
When they were younger Olivia Ayres and Olivia Nittinger got to know each other watching their older sisters play AAU together.

Now Ayres, the Tioga graduate, and Nittinger, the Waverly grad, are teammates themselves for Elmira College.

“Our sisters used to play AAU together, so we’ve been together a lot,” Nittinger said.

“It’s pretty nice (being teammates),” Ayres said. “We have known each other since we were like eight-years-old.”

Those older sisters each went on to play college sports as well, helping to set a path for their younger siblings.

Eventually Taylor Ayres went on to play field hockey at Mansfield and Elle Nittinger went on to play Division II basketball, first at NYACk College, where she was the team’s rookie of the year, and now at Dominican College.

“With watching my sister playing at D2 I knew it was going to be a transition,” Nittinger said as she joined the Soaring Eagles this year. Watching her transition into it I knew it was going to be the same type of thing for me.

“Basketball has definitely been a big difference coming from high school to college. The classes are kind of the same for me, but basketball is definitely a lot more time consuming.”

While Nittinger adjusts to college level basketball, Ayres made the transition last year, and watching her sister play sports in college helped her know what it would take.

“I wasn’t that nervous,” Ayres said of coming into college last year. “I was just really excited to join the girls and the team. I’ve seen college basketball and I watched the games beforehand. I saw them online, because it was Covid year so I couldn’t actually go, but I watched them online and felt like I would be a good fit her.

“I knew it was very time consuming. I watched all her games (Taylor’s games at Mansfield) whenever she was home or close to home and she would tell me she had like four practices a day, sometimes three-hour sessions, so I knew it was going to be a lot. Obviously she was D2 so it wa sa little different, but I knew you had to have good time management.”

After watching all of Taylor’s games in college, Olivia loves having her family there for her games.

“It’s really nice, I love seeing them being in the crowd, them and my high school coaches also come and watch me, Joe and Josh (Robinson), so it’s nice having them here.

“It’s really nice, besides it’s different, it’s in a gym, not freezing cold out there (like the field hockey games at Mansfield), and both of them come, my sisters (Taylor and Arielle) as well so it’s nice having them here.”

Nittinger is excited for her chance to play at the collegiate level, and being close to home in Elmira where her family and friends can come see her is special.

“I’m really excited for that, that’s one of the reasons I choose Elmira,” Nittinger said.

For Nittinger the last couple of years of high school were hard at times as she dealt with injuries.

“My junior year I missed the entire basketball season and it took me out for all three seasons (cross country, basketball and track and field), pretty much,” Nittinger said. “My senior year right before sectionals I sprained my ankle really bad and was out until pretty much the last game.”

For Nittinger with all the injuries it made her desire even stronger to keep playing the sport at the next level.

“It definitely impacted my decision on playing,” Nittinger said. “It made me realize I was not ready to stop playing.”

For Nittinger, she loved her other sports, but basketball was the sport she wanted to keep playing at the next level.

“Don’t get me wrong, I miss track and field and last year I found a new love for track I didn’t even know I had, but basketball has always been my favorite sport and kind of my families sport, so it’s kind of a gimme,” Nittinger said.

That cross country and track background is something Nittinger thinks will help her with the running that is required for college basketball.

“The other day at practices I was like cross country, if I didn’t do it I don’t know if I’d be able to do this honestly,” Nittinger said. “Cross country definitely gave me the endurance and last year becoming a sprinter in track made me faster, so they both help.”

Watching the game during her injuries just made Nittinger understand the game on a different level.

“I definitely saw more (of the game),” Nittinger said. “My teammates getting open and definitely versions that could be done with the plays and I felt like an assistant coach in a way.”

And, it made Nittinger work hard to get back this year.

“It made me come back stronger, definitely,” Nittinger said.

Ayres had a strong first year for the Soaring Eagles, playing in 24 games, with four starts, and scoring a career-high 20 points, with six threes, against Utica.

Ayres hit 33 three-pointers a year ago and had nine points in her first collegiate game, against Penn College, and had a 15 points, seven rebound, six assist game against Cazenovia.

What she did last year helped Ayres gain some confidence coming into this year.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Ayres said. “I love the team chemistry. I love the girls, we are always together.”

Last year the Soaring Eagles had smaller numbers late in the year, but that just made the bond between the players even better.

“It was a lot different,” Ayres said. “All the girls, we all worked hard, even though we had a short amount (of players). We all worked hard and pushed each other. We have always been close since we first met each other last year and the freshmen fit right in and we all get along, we are all best friends.

“It’s really nice, we are all hard at work all the time and we are always pushing each other.”

For Nittinger it’s special being a part of a team with so many first and second year players.

“It made me more comfortable coming in here, because there are so many people my age, and because we are such a young team it makes me more excited for the future,” Nittinger said.

Elmira coach Thad Phillips has seen Ayres grow ever since she arrived last year.

“She’s a lot more comfortable in our practices with our drills,” Phillips said. “She’s a lot more vocal this year as far as being a leader, because we are still young. Besides, Taylor (fifth-year player Taylor Albrecht) we are pretty much all freshmen and sophomores. It’s nice, she’s been a lot more vocal with her leadership, being able to get our freshmen caught up on drills and what we want them to do so it’s been nice having her back and she’s a local girl, which is nice for us.”

Phillips has been impressed by what he’s seen from Nittinger this year.

“She’s been a great surprise,” Phillips said. “Don’t get me wrong, we knew what she could do, but she’s been great with her work ethic. I didn’t quite expect it to be quite as high. She just goes, she never gets too high, she never gets too low. She makes mistakes and moves on. She looks very healthy and she’s doing a wonderful job.”

Albrecht is the one really veteran player on the team, and the younger girls are learning a lot from her.

“She’s a great leader for us,” Ayres said.

“She’s like an older sister for us,” Nittinger said.

Nittinger has learned from all the returning players.

“They are a huge help, we are a big family,” Nittinger said. “I was really close to my team at Waverly, here’s it’s so much more of a family and we are so close.

“I’m very excited to see how we do this year.”

Nittinger will work a lot at the point this year.

“It’s definitely different than high school, in high school sometimes I was a point, but mostly a shooting guard,” Nittinger said. “But, this year I think I’m mostly going to be a point guard.”

Ball handling is also something Ayres wanted to work on this year.

“I definitely am working very hard on my threes, but I also am working on my ball handling skills and driving to the hoop more as well,” Ayres said. “I have to be a great leader, I have to be talking on the court, helping the freshmen.”

For both Ayres and Nittinger it’s not just about this year, but also what the next few years could hold.

“I’m very excited,” Ayres said. “All of us are very hard working, so I think it’s going to be a very exciting season for sure.

It makes me very excited, our team chemistry is always so great, so it makes me excited to see what it’s like down the road.”
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IN TOP PHOTO: Elmira’s Olivia Nittinger (left) and Olivia Ayres. . . PHOTOS BY BRIAN FEES


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